Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Real Estate Investment, Energy and Consumer Staples sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.09%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG), which rose 4.40% or 0.03 points to trade at 0.65 at the close. Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX:WGX) added 4.21% or 0.11 points to end at 2.72 and Ramelius Resources Ltd (ASX:RMS) was up 3.92% or 0.08 points to 1.99 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Iluka Resources Ltd (ASX:ILU), which lost 5.17% or 0.32 points to trade at 5.87 in late trade. Flight Centre Ltd (ASX:FLT) declined 4.48% or 1.03 points to end at 21.98 and Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB) shed 3.83% or 0.05 points to 1.26.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 614 to 494 and 454 ended unchanged on the Sydney Stock Exchange.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 1.38% to 11.93.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.36% or 8.60 to $2,415.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.52% or 0.40 to hit $77.36 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.51% or 0.41 to trade at $81.42 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.35% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY fell 0.91% to 101.92.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.01% at 104.17.